"THE SWEET O' THE YEAR" 107 



to several countries, as Primroses, Cowslips, Oxlips, 

 Palsieworts and Petty Mullins. The Frantic Fan- 

 tastic, or Foolish, Cowslip in some places is called 

 by country people Jack-an-Apes-on-Horseback, 

 which is a usual name given by them to many other 

 plants, as Daisies, Marigolds, etc., if they be strange 

 or fantastical, differing in form from the ordinary 

 kind of the single ones. The smallest are usually 

 called through all the North Country Birds' Eyen, 

 because of the small yellow circle in the bottoms of 

 the flowers resembling the eye of a bird." 



OXLIP (Primula eliator). The oxlip combines 

 the qualities of primrose and cowslip. "These two 

 plants," writes a botanist, "appear as divergent ex- 

 pressions of a simple type, the cowslip being a con- 

 tracted form of primrose, the sulphur yellow and 

 the fine tawny, watery rays of the latter brightened 

 into well defined orange spots. In the oxlip these 

 characters anastomose." 



Thus, partaking of the character of primrose and 

 cowslip, the oxlip is considered by some authorities 

 a hybrid. "The oxlip and the polyanthus," says 

 Dr. Forbes Watson, "with its tortoiseshell blossoms, 

 are two of the immediate forms; the polyanthus 

 being a great triumph of the gardener's art, a de- 

 lightful flower, quite a new creation and originally 



